BY WENDY CAMPBELL

A few hours after Neal and Massy executive Harold Henderson was shot dead in the Macqueripe area, allegedly with a soldier’s gun, word came that people in army-type uniform were involved in a major drug bust, attempted murder, and carjacking on the night of November 4 in the same Macqueripe area.

Up to the time of writing, no one had been arrested for the drug seizure, and Carenage police are puzzled as to who really were the perpetrators of the crime.

The Henderson killing is expected to produce similar mystery, though there is strong feeling in some quarters of a military link in the executive’s killing following the discovery of a spent 7.62 shell near the crime scene.

Already, some are of the firm belief that Henderson, with a woman in Army territory, was shot by mistake by someone using a high-powered rifle, perhaps to scare them off.

However, the TTDF and police, both of whom use the 7.62 ammunition, have denied involvement in the incident.

Even if a hit was ordered on Henderson’s life, sources said, it must have been someone who knew the area very well and who knew he and his female companion were going to the area, or who knew they were already there.

Henderson’s last words to his female companion were: "Soldiers in the area."

A RECENT incident involving at least five men in army uniforms have led police to believe that some members of the Trinidad and Tobago Defence Force (TTDF) are in cohorts with Venezuelan nationals in the drug trade along the Macqueripe coastline.

Police have based their theory on the discovery of over $700,000 in marijuana, the reported carjacking of two men and the attempted murder of two officers of the Chaguaramas Development Authority (CDA) by men in army fatigues, and the sightings of Venezuelan nationals.

It was the first major drug seizure in the Macqueripe area, and police have said that the beach front is being used as a transhipment point for drugs.

Senior officers said the Macqueripe beach front was secluded and unprotected at nights, thereby allowing a number of illegal activities to take place.

Confirming the incident, CDA's chief of security retired Sr Supt Ulric Sanoir and the Carenage police say they are yet to get to the bottom of the incident which occurred on the night of November 4 behind the Base Night Club, in the vicinity of Lumber Lane, Macqueripe Road, Chaguaramas.

"We are trying to find out if they were really soldiers, but we are yet to uproot useful information to indicate that they were in fact soldiers. We really don't know if other people used the Army uniform," Sanoir said.

©2003-2004 Trinidad Publishing Company Limited